Dozens of faith leaders and members of Congress are asking the Supreme Court Monday to side with religious nonprofits in a closely-watched challenge to the Obama administration’s birth control mandate.
This spring, the justices will consider whether Little Sisters of the Poor, a group of nuns, and other religious nonprofits can be entirely excused from complying with a requirement to provide birth control coverage to employees.
In one of the amicus briefs filed Monday by the conservative Judicial Crisis Network, attorney Carrie Sevarino says she has obtained internal government emails showing that while the White House was constructing the requirement, officials were trying hard to make sure Catholic universities wouldn’t be included in an exemption from the mandate, which was given to churches.
“Administration health policy officials were downright obsessed with figuring out which Catholic institutions would fit within the … exemption,” Sevarino wrote.
Other amicus briefs supporting the nonprofits are being filed Monday by Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Native American, Catholic and Protestant leaders, along with more than 200 Democratic and Republican members of Congress, according to the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a legal group representing Little Sisters.
“We are overjoyed and deeply grateful for the diverse outpouring of support we have received from such a variety of people and groups,” said Loraine Marie Maguire, mother provincial for Little Sisters of the Poor. “We have been serving the elderly poor for over 175 years and are simply asking the government to allow us to continue our life’s work without being forced to choose between our faith and millions in government fines.”
The case is the second major challenge to the Obama administration’s birth control requirement for the Supreme Court to consider. In the 2014 Hobby Lobby case, it ruled that certain for-profit businesses can be excused from the requirement if their owners have religious objections.
